Tata Sons sells TCS shares worth Rs9,000 crore to pare debt

Mumbai: Tata Sons Ltd on Tuesday sold shares worth nearly Rs9,000 crore in IT major Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, according to NSE data.

Tata Sons had on Monday unveiled its plan to sell TCS shares to pay debt, according to a Bloomberg report.

Tata Sons will sell 28.27 million shares of Asia’s largest software developer, or about 1.48% stake, according to the terms of the transaction. The company plans to sell the shares at between Rs2,872 to Rs2,925 a share, the terms show. Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley are the bankers to the sale.

Tata Sons will use the proceeds to pay creditors of its wireless division, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The company will also use the funds to raise its stake in some of its unit in a bid to reduce cross holdings, the person said asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Tata sold Tata Teleservices Ltd’s mobile-phone operations to Bharti Airtel Ltd last year and pledged to pay the unit’s obligations.

The holding company is also seeking an offshore syndicated loan, as it seeks to pay down expensive debt at telecommunications unit, people familiar with the matter said last week. Tata Sons has mandated lenders for a $1.5 billion six-year loan. Tata Sons plans to use the proceeds to repay debt of units Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices Maharashtra, a person said then.

On Tuesday, TCS shares fell 5.22%, or Rs159.40, to Rs2,892.95 while benchmark Sensex lost 0.18%, or 61.16 points, to end the day at 33,856.78 points.